Existing comment:
Neighborhood of Revolution
"Paul Revere . . . started on a ride which, in a way has never ended." - Esther Forbes, author of the classic study, Paul Revere and the World He Lived In
In the course of just two pivotal days – April 18 and 19, 1775 – the preceding years of unrest burst into insurrection. Paul and Rachel Revere, plus several of their sixteen children, lived in an old house in what is now Boston's oldest neighborhood, the North End. Paul was a middle-class artisan, a trusted and active member of his community who belonged to the Masons, the Sons of Liberty and the North End Caucus. His neighbors included both patriots and loyalists to the British cause, like Gov. Thomas Hutchinson. On the night of April 18, Revere planned the hanging of two lanterns in the steeple of the Old North Church, as he and other express riders sped off to warn fellow patriots that British soldiers were on the march. By morning, colonial militia had assembled in Lexington and Concord, ready for the first military encounters of the Revolution.
When the British left "by sea" for Lexington and Concord, they were really crossing the Charles River. Camped on Boston Common, the redcoats slipped into their boats at the foot of the Common – where the landfill based Charles Street runs today – then rowed across the river to continue their march. |